South Korea's LG Electronics Co on Thursday launched a new mobile phone incorporating a buttonless touch-screen that resembles the much-hyped Apple Inc iPhone -- and will be in stores next month.
LG's Prada Phone is being produced in partnership with the Italian fashion brand. It is set to go on sale in late February for 600 euros (US$780) at mobile phone dealers and Prada stores in Britain, France, Germany and Italy. It comes to Asia in March.
The no-button interface with the entire phone face covered by a touch-sensitive screen resembles the Apple iPhone, announced by the US company earlier this month to much fanfare as an innovation that could shake up the industry.
Apple's iPhone is set for US release in June, and will cost US$599 for the high-end model with 8 gigabytes of internal memory -- the same as the LG model.
Other markets will see the iPhone later this year and next year.
The LG phone has a wide-screen display and can play most popular digital music and video formats, and has a 2-megapixel camera like the iPhone. Its memory can be expanded with cards.
The iPhone allows Internet use also through regular wireless Wi-Fi networks, and has a full-featured Web browser.
The LG phone is 12mm thick, just 0.4mm more than the iPhone.
Meanwhile, Apple will have plenty of room to eventually reduce the retail price of its upcoming iPhone, according to preliminary gross margin estimates by a market research company.
The iPhone will yield gross margins of more than 50 percent at the current set of retail prices, iSuppli Corp said in an analysis of presumed component and manufacturing costs.
The 4-gigabyte version of the iPhone, with a retail price of US$499,will cost Apple US$245.83 to make, iSuppli estimated.
The 8-gigabyte version, which is priced at US$599, will cost Apple US$280.83.
"With a 50 percent gross margin, Apple is setting itself up for aggressive price declines going forward," said Jagdish Rebello, a director and principal analyst with research firm iSuppli.
Since Apple will face stiff competition in the cell phone market, the company may need to cut into its margins to reduce pricing in the future, he said.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.
The Apple iPhone will be available starting in June exclusively through AT&T's Cingular Wireless. Apple has said it hopes to sell 10 million units next year, or about 1 percent of the market.
That goal "seems attainable," Rebello said.
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